Nigeria’s U-17 women’s coach, Bankole Olowookere, remains optimistic about his team’s chances of advancing despite suffering consecutive defeats at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
The Flamingos fell 1–0 to France on Wednesday, their second loss of the tournament following an opening-day setback against Canada.
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The results leave Nigeria third in Group D, with France and Canada sealing the two automatic qualification spots after two rounds of matches.
Speaking after the narrow defeat, Olowookere expressed disappointment but maintained hope:
“It’s so disappointing, but everything is not lost. We’re quite close to France, quite close to Canada. We just need to get the girls back on track and see how they can come good in the last game to make the knockout stage.”
Nigeria will now face Samoa in their final group game, where only a convincing victory can keep their qualification hopes alive.
Olowookere, however, believes that the Flamingos can still progress as one of the best four third-placed teams across the six groups.
“Three points can still be enough to go through,” he noted. “We have a goal deficit of about four, so we’ll aim for a big win against Samoa. First, we must get the three points, then work on improving our goal difference to stand a better chance.”
Reflecting on the team’s performance, the coach highlighted noticeable progress despite the disappointing outcome.
“The game we played against France was far better than the one against Canada. If we had shown this kind of fight earlier, I don’t think we’d be in this situation. It’s unfortunate that the late goal came in—it’s painful and a bad break for us.”
With one match left to play, the Flamingos must deliver a commanding win over Samoa to stay in contention for a Round of 16 spot at Morocco 2025.
